Windows Server AppFabric is the new name for several Windows infrastructure components, including the “Dublin” app server and “Velocity” caching technology. Microsoft is touting Windows Server AppFabric as providing elasticity and high availability for Web applications, as well as delivering more development and management of on-premises Windows apps. Windows Server AppFabric requires Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2008 R2 and will be free to customers with Standard and Enterprise editions of those products.

I thought Microsoft might use today's Webcast to share more details on some of its other cloud and cloud-infrastructure products, like its plan for providing customers with their own, customized datacenter containers -- or the "Project Sydney" public-private cloud networking and federation technology Microsoft officials mentioned late last year. But Microsoft officials said no more information on either of these efforts will be made available today.